


Looking glass

by Hyfriancarousel



Series: Red shoes month 2020 [5]
Category: Red Shoes and the 7 Dwarfs (2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Doubt, Drama, Fear, Gen, Illusions, Implied/Referenced Torture, Magic Mirrors, Rescue Missions, Sad Ending, glass shards
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:00:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25747780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hyfriancarousel/pseuds/Hyfriancarousel
Summary: Rescuing Snow White from Regina's castle gets halted by sudden news.Jack isn't real.
Series: Red shoes month 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1860025
Comments: 1
Kudos: 14





	Looking glass

The window broke as the rest of the F7 busted through it. Within seconds, they had freed their leader from the mirror’s hold.

“Merlin! Are you okay?”

Arthur ran to Merlin’s side and helped him up. He grimaced a little from being dropped.

“We need to,” Merlin took a breath, “We need to help Snow White!”

Arthur held Excalibur on his shoulder.

“On it!”

A voice came from in front of them.

“There’s nothing to save.”

Suddenly, there stood the witch. The evil queen who took Snow White.

A murderer.

But they could still stop her.

“Regina!” Merlin yelled. “Where is Snow white?! Let her go!”

The queen kept looking back at them with eyes too uninterested to even show anger.

“Why? It’s not like she could even come with you.”

She sat down on her throne of wood.

“She’s gone.”

Merlin gasped.

“No!”

That can’t be. It can’t. Snow was…

Dead?

Jack stepped forward, gently pressing his way through Arthur and Hans.

“That’s not true!”

Pino shifted within their invention, tilting his head.

“Jack?”

“She’s lying!” Jack yelled. “Red shoes-I mean Snow White is still alive!”

He faced Merlin, holding onto his arm.

“Merlin, don’t cry. Remember, she would have the red shoes if she had succeeded.”

He dried Merlin’s tear with his free hand. It was cold, like usual.

“The tree hasn’t grown yet.”

What?

Merlin blinked.

“...How do you know that?”

Jack froze. He looked at Merlin, surprised.

Why was he surprised?

“I...”

The way one makes the red shoes.

A person bit into an apple. Their body turned into a tree. The tree would grow fruit that turned into the shoes.

Those words had not left the magic mirror until a couple of minutes ago. The F7 weren’t here.

None of them knew about this before.

Merlin looked at Jack, confused.

“How...do you know that, Jack?”

“Um,” Jack stepped back, “Lucky gue-”

“Oh, tell them.” Regina leaned forward on her throne. “I’m sure your “friends” would like some answers.”

Hans’s eyes moved as he thought.

“Wha...”

Arthur drowned out Hans’s whisper.

“What are you going on about, Regina?!”

The queen, the witch, placed her arm on the throne handle. She pressed her face against her hand. Boredom shined from her.

“Why don’t you ask your “friend”? He knows better than anyone.”

“What is...” Noki mumbled.

Kio cut him off.

“What’s going on?”

Jack stood still. His face looked a little pale.

“I...”

“Jack,” Arthur said, “Do you...KNOW her? As in...you’ve talked before? What’s going on, mate?!”

The room felt cold, confusing. Jack took a step away from the F7, his teammates, his friends.

“Uh...well, it’s a long story-”

“No, it really isn’t,” Regina cut him off. “I made you in under an hour.”

The rest of the F7 stared up at the queen.

“...WHAT?”

“What’s she going on about?!” Arthur yelled once more.

Jack gulped, trying to calm him down.

“I can explai-”

The queen cackled loudly.

Jack’s face gained back the color it lost as red anger took over his face.

“Why isn’t anyone listening to me?!”

Regina’s cackling stopped as she looked straight at Jack.

“There’s nothing to listen to.”

The ring on his finger glowed a red, the expensive diamond shimmering. Old wood tangled around his leg and pulled him away with force.

Hans tried to grab onto Jack’s hand.

“JACK!”

Of course, Hans was much too slow, he didn’t even manage to take a hold of Jack before he was dragged away. 

His bindings loosened just a little as they gave him to Regina. Jack tried to get away from her, but he couldn’t fight against the embrace.

“This thing you’ve been all buddy-buddy with is nothing more than a reflection.” She explained coldly, gazing at Jack.

“It’s not even a person.”

Regina took the mirror, the one of silver and fine carvings. Jack tried to break free.

“That’s mine!”

Regina looked into it. Her reflection didn’t greet her. The ends of her throne room reflected back in amazing detail, but not her. It was as if she didn’t have a reflection at all.

“Oh, I missed this. The convenience was marvelous. Shame it’s not usable anymore.”

She glared at Magichard. 

“Now I only have you.”

“Hey,” Magichard said.

She turned back, grabbing Jack’s right hand.

She pulled off the ring.

Jack shrieked.

“No, give it back!”

Regina held onto the back of Jack’s shirt as to give the roots enough time to retreat.

She let go, dropping Jack on the icy floor. He whined in pain from the impact.

Regina held the ring between her fingers. Shimmering, expensive diamond. Ring of gold.

She turned it.

The gold turned to wood, and the diamond changed color. Darker, darker, until it was darker than midnight. A beetle dropped from top of the ring.

Merlin shivered.

Regina looked over at Jack, the cloak hanging from him. She ripped it away from him.

Invisible.

“What better way to get inside intel than to make a spy, give it a name and throw it at naïve and unsuspecting heroes?”

She tore the fabric apart. The cloak gained color, visibility. It was an exact replica of the cloak she was wearing.

“Jack Spriggings isn’t even a prince, but a farm boy somewhere far, far away.”

Regina moved the pieces in her hands and glances at Jack.

“This thing here doesn’t even have a name.”

She let the pieces fall on the floor of the throne room. They squished the beetle underneath.

She then faced Jack.

“All you are is lies,” she snickered.

Jack cowered before her. Regina smiled as she turned to face the F7, held back by a barricade of wood.

Hans gasped. His face turned furious.

“How dare you!”

He tried to run towards them, but Magichard slapped him away.

Regina walked back to her throne, not even commenting on what just happened.

She sat down.

“You can’t trust mirrors.”

“I heard that,” Magichard said.

Regina glared at her loyal but loud magical mirror.

“Hush you!”

She turned back to face her audience. Pino, Noki and Kio made sure that Hans was fine, with Merlin and Arthur now both stepping away.

Attacking was useless if none of them could even reach Regina.

“They lie, they obscure,” The queen continued, “and they’re terrible friends.”

“You’re going to hurt my feelings,” Magichard said.

“Jack is...” Merlin tried to gather his thoughts. “You’re lying!”

“You’re a witch!” Pino yelled.

“Why would we trust you?!” Noki added.

Anger took over Arthur as he charged at her.

“Let him go!”

He cut through the wood, with Merlin and Hans fast behind him. The triplets made sure Magichard wouldn’t get in their way.

Arthur jumped to reach Regina. Sword ready to slice her in half.

The queen smiled.

Regina threw the silver mirror at Arthur.

Arthur’s eyes widened. His blade cut through a part of its side, chopping off a piece. The mirror fell.

Magichard catches it, but the smaller piece falls to the ground and shatters.

The sound echoes in the room.

Jack shrieks in pain.

He held onto his left arm, as if he had gotten bruised. His green skin started cracking.

“Jack?!”

Arthur landed, but got swept away by the magical mirror’s magic.

Jack panted. He lifted his left hand.

“Wh...Why does it...”

Similar to a porcelain doll or a vase, the cracks connected and spread through his entire arm. A sound of glass shattering echoed through the throne room again.

Jack’s hand crumbled into broken glass.

He screamed. As did the other F7.

Magichard whistled.

“Well, looks like you got your proof!”

Regina smiled as Jack kept screaming his voice out.

“This is what happens if a mirror is broken.”

Hans tried to regain his composure.

“You big, mean-!”

Hans rushed towards her, but Arthur caught him and held him in place.

Tears streamed down Jack’s face. Tears that he tried to hide. Regina wasn’t looking at him, so maybe he would get away with it.

He stared at Magichard, surprisingly getting to see his own reflection. Small, green and crying. Different to his other form. The one without the curse.

He narrowed his eyes.

He took a deep breath and began to whisper.

“Mirror, Mirror, full of wisdom, who’s the fairest in the kingdom?”

He kept repeating the same phrase over and over again. It started overlapping with itself, like there was another person whispering too. And another. And another.

“What are you doing?”

“I’ve done exactly what you’ve wanted for as long as I can remember.”

Jack stood up.

“Not anymore.”

He raised his broken arm and turned it towards Magichard.

“Whoa, that looks sharp.”

Jack screamed and hit the broken glass against the mirror as hard as he could.

A crack. Another.

Magichard shattered into pieces.

“Chaaaarge!” Arthur yelled.

Arthur and Merlin attacked Regina, with Hans following right behind them.

“You insolent brat!”

Regina screamed.

Jack jumped away from her hold.

They were on a rescue mission. And he was not going to be the one in need of rescuing.

Wood grew from underneath the rock, trying to capture Jack. But it also kept Regina from focusing on her surroundings. Jack ran away from the throne, picking up the mirror that decided his fate.

Arthur cut the sprouting vine-like trees as fast as he could. The triplets shielded Jack from the blows with their invention. Merlin threw his spells at Regina, but she still didn’t stop trying to hurt Jack.

“How dare you hurt him?!”

Hans threw his pan at Regina, but promptly missed. It got stuck on the bark of the wood barricade in front of it.

Instead of retrieving it, he charged at Regina and tackled her. The witch screamed as she and Hans bought fell down, close to the huge doors of the White castle.

“Hans!”

Jack’s scream got Hans alert again. He got up just in time to evade an attack of wood, but not enough to escape being trapped behind a wall of oak.

Jack went over to Hans to free him while Merlin and Arthur jumped after Regina. They cornered the witch.

“It’s over, witch!" Arthur yelled. " You’re going down!”

She tried to get up, but only managed to support herself with her hands.

“No matter. It’s too late now! You’ll never save Snow White!”

The triplets threw the door open with their invention.

“Merlin!” Kio yelled.

“Quickly!” Pino added.

“There’s still time!” Noki yelled.

Regina got up, running through the opened door.

“My shoes...finally, they’ll be mine!”

Merlin stopped. To stop the magic,

destroy the source.

He dashed after Regina, outside into the beautiful day. The edge of the broken bridge. Regina tried to use her magic to cross.

Merlin tackled her.

They both fell off the edge.

“Merlin!” Arthur yelled.

An explosion of lightning.

The sparks flew in the air and could be felt everywhere around. The three little wooden bears were enveloped by a thick, rosy smoke that disappeared as fast as it appeared, leaving behind three children.

They rejoiced.

The wood began to die around the castle. Breaking into pieces, to dust, and disappearing with the wind.

Mournful faces.

Jack turned to Hans.

“I’m sorry about everything.”

“What are you talking about?" Hans whispered.

Jack gave a smile, a sad one. A lot of things had happened just now.

“Merlin is fine. I promise you.”

Hans blinked at him, trying to gather his thoughts.

“How do you-”

“Hans, I need to give you something.”

Jack pulled out his silver mirror. A part missing from the left side, but still intact.

“Here.”

Hans grabbed on the mirror’s handle. Jack let go with no resistance.

“...Why are you giving me this?”

“Because,” Jack took a deep breath, “I don’t want it to shatter.”

Hans held the mirror tighter.

“...Jack...”

“Promise me you won’t shatter it,” Jack said.

Hans nodded.

“I promise.”

Jack hugged him.

“Thank you.”

He was never one for physical affection. Guess this was different. Hans held on to him with his free hand.

Jack sighed.

“Désolé, mon ami.”

The same pink smoke enveloped them, causing Hans to close his eyes.

When he opened them,

Jack wasn’t there.

Hans fell on his knees.

“No,” he whispered. “You can’t.”

He looked at the mirror in his hand.

He could see the castle behind himself, but not his own reflection. The white marble shined in the sunlight.

It suddenly got blocked from his view.

His reflection was in the way.

“No.”

Hans hugged the mirror.

A tear rolled down, dropping on the mirror’s surface.

He wept.

**Author's Note:**

> Day 5: Mirror, Mirror of @redshoesmonth2020's (tumblr) Red shoes prompt month.


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